Originally posted by iiioloiii
After observing some night scene pictures from this and HWZ forum, I found that most of them have one common mistake. They are all over-exposed. Allow me to give some pointers on night photography.
i agree it's a very common mistake, that's why i particularly love the 2 night shots i posted here, which i think are perfectly exposed. i think the reason is because i shot the first one of the Grand Copthorne Hotel during the magic hour light - that window of 7-7:15 pm (sometimes later) where the sky is the bluest and yet bright enough to suit the dynamic range of the G1. The second of the central fire station was shot just after the magic hour.....
Actually whether it's overexposure or not is also pretty subjective. Some just like it darker
i too have my fair share of over-exposed night shots when i was happily taking night shots with the G1, and i think your tips are good, but i feel that a major reason why there are so many overexposed night shots is because everybody is shooting when
the sky is pitch black. For consumer digicams, (where most of those night shots originate), the exposure latitude is small compared to color negative - if one were to expose for the bright highlights (eg street lamps), then the rest of the scene would go very dark and important details would be hidden. And since most consumer digicam owners don't do complex photoshop post processing on their images to bring out shadow detail, i think most arrive at the conclusion that a little overexposure is good. Actually, there isn't ANY detail to be retained in the bright highlights of street lamps anyway.
i think the key to successful night shots is to take them during the magic hours. At least for me, my keepers are not those when the sky is pitch black. wat do u guys think?
D30, Sigma 20 f1.8
@ f8, ISO 100
